Information sharing system and information sharing method

ABSTRACT

An information sharing apparatus comprises extracting unit extracting personal information item from acquired information item which includes personal information item, generating unit generating anonymous information item by deleting personal information item from acquired information item, storing unit storing personal information item and anonymous information item, storing unit storing first access level assigned to group of users who can access only anonymous information item, and to store second access level assigned to group of users who can access both of anonymous information item and personal information item, receiving unit receiving request message for accessing acquired information item, transmitting unit transmitting only anonymous information item when access level predetermined to user is equal to first access level, synthesizing unit synthesizing personal information item with anonymous information item, transmitting unit transmitting regenerated second information item, when access level of user is equal to second access level.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority fromthe prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-307576, filed Oct. 22,2002, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a system which uses collectedinformation for data mining or the like while maintaining privacy ofpersonal information included in the collected information.

2. Description of the Related Art

In recent years, computers are existing everywhere without beingnoticed. Ubiquitous computing which assists daily life and ubiquitousnetworks that connect ubiquitous computers are extensively being studied(“Toward Realization of a Ubiquitous Network”, Study Group on FutureProspects of Ubiquitous Network Technology in Ministry of GeneralAffairs, <URL:http://www.soumu.go.jp/s-news/2002/pdf/020611_(—)4_(—)1.pdf>).

A scale having an IrDA is commercially available. When the user weighshimself/herself, the scale automatically transmits the measured weightand body fat percentage to a personal computer through a network. A homehealthcare system is also under development, in which when the user usesthe toilet, the weight, blood pressure, pulse, and blood glucose levelare measured and transmitted to a health control center or the likethrough a network.

As size reduction of acceleration sensors progresses, high-performancepedmeters are becoming commercially available. There are somecommercially available pedmeters which can cause a personal computer tomanage measured data through a USB (Universal Serial Bus).

A railway company introduced 2002 a service that uses a combination of apass and a prepaid card using a noncontact IC card with extensiveadvertisements. In the service that combines a pass and a noncontact ICcard, the holder of each noncontact IC card pass can be specified. Theservice provider, i.e., the railway company can grasp the movement ofthe holder of each noncontact IC card pass and the time of his/heraction although the follow-up range is limited to the railway network ofthat company.

To cope with the increase in number of heinous crimes, there areinstalled many security/monitor cameras in bank ATMs, conveniencestores, amusement centers, and elevator halls or cages of multistoriedapartments. The monitor cameras continuously sense images at an intervalof 1 to 10 sec on a 24-hour basis. In case of an actual offense,recorded images are offered to the police and the like.

Images sensed by monitor cameras which are installed to observe thewater levels of rivers or rainfalls are open to the public through cableTVs or Web. Cable TVs are exclusive services for only subscribers andare therefore charged for. However, there are some images that can beseen at an interval of 10 min in real time without charge (top page ofKeihin Office of River, <URL:http://www.keihin.ktr.mlit.go.jp/index_top.html>).

That is, for various purposes such as crime prevention and healthcontrol, various kinds of sensing devices such as cameras and vital orliving-body sensors are installed at public sites including banks,stations, convenience stores, and amusement centers, or privatelocations including homes, or worn by individuals.

On the other hand, medical facilities want to not only manage the bloodglucose levels of diabetics but also collect and mine enormous quantityof data about even reserves of “lifestyle” diseases and make use of thedata for medical treatments and health instructions. All patients wantonly themselves and their doctors to browse their data. Even when thepatients know that the data is useful for preventive medicine, they donot want their names revealed. If the data is to be used for study ofpreventive medicine, the patients wish that information related to thepatient's privacy should be completely deleted, and only abstractinformation necessary for studies should be made open, like “female,age: 35, height: 163 cm, weight: 48 kg, blood pressure: 116-72, . . . .”

Currently, however, such work for keeping personal information secret ismainly done by doctors who use the data for studies. Only few doctorshave knowledge about information protection such as firewall or can doprogramming to keep information secret. Even when doctors have suchknowledge or ability, most of them have no sufficient time to handle andmanage information.

In the distribution industry including convenience stores andsupermarkets, it is required to know the merchandise buying tendency ofeach age group and gender and make use of the information for the nextpurchase of merchandise. In convenience stores, presently, a clerk looksat a customer and estimates and inputs, e.g., “middle-aged, man”. Ifsettlement using a point card or a portable cellular phone isintroduced, the data can automatically be acquired.

On the other hand, the railway company can grasp the flow of passengerswho use the noncontact IC card passes. On the basis of the data, thecompany can make a train service schedule or improve the stationfacilities. However, every noncontact IC card pass user expects that thepersonal information is protected even if his/her data is used.

An enormous quantity of information including personal information orprivate information such as images of street cameras, available railwayinformation, personal vital data, and personal purchase information,which have not been handled as contents with clear awareness, can beprocessed as electronic data and distributed through networks. Everyperson wants to protect the information including personal information.On the other had, companies, railway companies, medical facilities, anddistribution industry want to mine data and use them as fundamental datafor marketing or investment on plants and equipment. There is abottleneck of interests between the two parties.

As described above, conventionally, there is no environment foreffectively using information including personal information orinformation such as vital data or purchase information corresponding topersonal information for different purposes while protecting thepersonal information.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide aninformation sharing method and information sharing system, which allow athird party to effectively use information including personalinformation while protecting the personal information.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

(1) According to first aspect of the present invention, there isprovided an information sharing apparatus, which communicates with atleast one terminal corresponding to a first user of users, comprising:an acquiring unit configured to acquire a first information item whichincludes an anonymous information item and a personal information item,the personal information item corresponding to an informant of theanonymous information item; a separating unit configured to separate thepersonal information item from the first information item, to obtain theanonymous information item; a first storing unit configured to store thepersonal information item and the anonymous information item; a secondstoring unit configured to store a first access level which is assignedto a first group of users of the users who can access only the anonymousinformation item out of the anonymous information item and the personalinformation item, and to store a second access level which is assignedto a second group of users of the users who can access both of theanonymous information item and the personal information item; areceiving unit configured to receive a request message for accessing thefirst information item, the request message being transmitted from theterminal; a first transmitting unit configured to transmit only theanonymous information item out of the anonymous information item and thepersonal information item to the terminal in response to the requestmessage, when an access level predetermined to the first user is equalto the first access level; a second transmitting unit configured totransmit both of the anonymous information item and the personalinformation item in response to the request message, when the accesslevel of the first user is equal to the second access level.

(2) According to second aspect of the present invention, there isprovided an information sharing apparatus, which communicates with atleast one terminal corresponding to a first user of users, comprising:an acquiring unit configured to acquire a second information item whichincludes a personal information item; an extracting unit configured toextract the personal information item from the second information item,to obtain extracted personal information item; a generating unitconfigured to generate an anonymous information item by deleting thepersonal information item in the second information item; a firststoring unit configured to store the extracted personal information itemand the anonymous information item; a second storing unit configured tostore a first access level which is assigned to a first group of usersof the users who can access only the anonymous information item out ofthe anonymous information item and the personal information item, and tostore a second access level which is assigned to a second group of usersof the users who can access both of the anonymous information item andthe personal information item; a receiving unit configured to receive arequest message for accessing the second information item, the requestmessage being transmitted from the terminal; a first transmitting unitconfigured to transmit only the anonymous information item out of theanonymous information item and the personal information item to theterminal in response to the request message, when an access levelpredetermined to the first user is equal to the first access level; asynthesizing unit configured to synthesize the personal information itemwith the anonymous information item, to obtain a regenerated secondinformation item; a second transmitting unit configured to transmit theregenerated second information item in response to the request message,when the access level of the first user is equal to the second accesslevel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of aninformation anonymizing system according to the first embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a view showing the outer appearance of a terminalcorresponding to a sensing unit shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the schematic arrangement of thesensing unit shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a graph showing a detailed example of vital data;

FIG. 5 is a table showing an example of storage of vital data andadditional information in the storing unit;

FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of storage of personal informationin the storing unit;

FIG. 7 is a sequence chart for explaining the processing operation ofthe information anonymizing system shown in FIG. 1 in recordinginformation;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing another arrangement of the sensingunit shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a view for explaining a method of extracting an informationportion corresponding to personal information from acquired information;

FIG. 10 is a view for explaining another method of extracting aninformation portion corresponding to personal information from acquiredinformation;

FIG. 11 is a view showing a detailed example of image informationincluding personal information, which is acquired by the sensing unit;

FIG. 12 is a view showing the personal information included in the imageshown in FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a view showing anonymous information obtained by deleting thepersonal information from the image shown in FIG. 11;

FIG. 14 is a sequence chart for explaining another processing operationof the information anonymizing system shown in FIG. 1 in recordinginformation;

FIG. 15 is a sequence chart for explaining the processing operation ofthe information anonymizing system shown in FIG. 1 in using information;

FIG. 16 is a view showing an example of a report created on the basis ofinformation provided from the information anonymizing system shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 17 is a block diagram schematically showing another configurationof the information anonymizing system according to the first embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 18 is a view showing an example of anonymous information; and

FIG. 19 is a view for explaining the mechanism of an information useservice using the information anonymizing system described in the firstembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments of the present invention will be described below withreference to the accompanying drawing.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 shows the schematic configuration of an information anonymizingsystem 100 according to the first embodiment. A sensing unit 1 is, e.g.a camera installed on a street or a terminal apparatus (FIG. 2) whichmeasures user's vital data (pulse, GSR (Galvanic Skin Reflex),acceleration that represents a user's motion state, and the like). Whenthe sensing unit 1 is a camera, an image (including both a still imageand a moving image) sensed by the camera is transmitted to a transceiverunit 4. When the sensing unit 1 is a terminal apparatus shown in FIG. 2,vital data measured from the user who is wearing the terminal apparatusis transmitted to the transceiver unit 4.

The terminal apparatus shown in FIG. 2 mainly comprises a main unit 51and a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) 53. A sensor module head 52 to bewound around a user's finger is connected to the watch-like main unit 51that the user wears. The sensor module head 52 has sensors to measureGSR, pulse, acceleration, and the like. These sensors measure GSR,pulse, acceleration, and the like every msec. The measurement result istransmitted to the PDA 53 by short-distance wireless communication(e.g., Bluetooth) every, e.g., 50 msec.

GSR is the resistance value between two points on the skin surface.Generally, when man sweats on the skin surface, the skin resistancevalue decreases. When getting tense, the skin becomes sweaty. Since GSRindicates the degree of tense, it is used in a polygraph or the like.

The PDA 53 analyzes these pieces of vital data transmitted from the mainunit 51 and determines the type of user's action such as walking,running, working, keeping rest, or taking a meal. The PDA 53 also givesthe user an advice such as “30 minutes after meal. Take medicine!” or“Have you measured the blood glucose level?”

FIG. 3 shows the functional arrangement of the terminal apparatus shownin FIG. 2, i.e., the sensing unit 1. The sensing unit 1 is constitutedby a vital data measuring unit 11 and a communication unit 15. The vitaldata measuring unit 11 comprises a GSR measuring unit 12 which measuresGSR and skin temperature, a wave measuring unit 13 which causes aphotoelectric pulse wave sensor or the like to measure pulse, and anacceleration measuring unit 14 which causes a biaxial accelerationsensor to measure acceleration. The communication unit 15 wirelesslytransmits the result. For example, the vital data measuring unit 11shown in FIG. 3 corresponds to the main unit 51 including the sensormodule head 52 shown in FIG. 2. The communication unit 15 corresponds tothe PDA 53 shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 shows vital data such as the skin temperature, pulse, GSR, andacceleration measured by the measuring units. The plurality of kinds ofvital data are transmitted from the communication unit 15 to thetransceiver unit 4 shown in FIG. 1 as sensing information.

FIG. 4 is a graph of actually measured skin temperature, pulse, GSR, andacceleration. The skin temperature, pulse, GSR, and acceleration arechronologically stored in correspondence with each measurement time. Asshown at the lower portion of FIG. 4, the types of action such as “PCwork”, “sit”, “stand”, “walk”, and “run” are determined from theacceleration.

In the above description, the sensing unit 1 acquires vital data assensing information. However, the present invention is not limited tothis. Information other than vital data may be acquired.

Vital data generally is used in a set of the vital data and additionalinformation that makes it possible to identify the person to whom thevital data belongs. More specifically, such information (e.g., personalinformation such as a personal ID or name) that can be used to identifyan individual is always integrated with vital data and managed. However,in the information anonymizing system according to this embodiment, suchinformation (a kind of “information to be kept secret”) that is used tospecify an individual is separated from vital data and stored such thatthe vital data can be used for data mining or the like later.

Personal information includes pieces of information that specify anindividual, i.e., the name, address, telephone number, photograph offace, insurance number, and bank account number of an individual andother private information that must be kept secret from a third party.Such personal information can be regarded as secret information thatmust be held in confidence, i.e., “information to be kept secret”.

An information processing unit 2 adds, to information (sensinginformation) collected by the sensing unit 1, information to be used toaccess the sensing information later. When “information to be keptsecret” is included in or associated with the sensing informationitself, the information processing unit 2 separates the “information tobe kept secret” from the sensing information to generate recordinginformation to be recorded in a structured accessible informationstoring unit 3. The information processing unit 2 includes an addingunit 21, information associating unit 22, and anonymous informationstructuring unit 23.

When the sensing unit 1 outputs a plurality of kinds of sensinginformation, the information associating unit 22 associates theplurality of kinds of sensing information with each other in the orderof measurement times, as shown in FIG. 4.

The adding unit 21 generates additional information (i.e., additionalinformation including the type indicator of sensing information,information acquisition date/time, sensing information encryptionmethod, information (level information) representing the level of theaccess right that limits access users who can access the sensinginformation, and information about the source of the sensinginformation) to be added to each sensing information. The adding unit 21also generates recording information including vital data and additionalinformation. The recording information generated here still includesboth the “information to be kept secret” and information that need notto do so. The anonymous information structuring unit 23. separates the“information to be kept secret” (especially the personal information)from the recording information. After that, the recording information isstored in the structured accessible information storing unit 3 in, e.g.,the format shown in FIG. 5.

Referring to FIG. 5, identifiers “B1”, “B2”, . . . are added to thesensing information items. The sensing information items themselves areencrypted and stored in the structured accessible information storingunit 3 independently of the additional information.

The recording information shown in FIG. 5 will be described.“Information type” indicates the type of information and the manner ofstorage of the information. For example, it can immediately bedetermined on the basis of the information type whether the informationis useful for marketing. “Access right” is defined in advance inaccordance with each recording information items to limit users(accessible users) of the recording information. Vital data included inthe recording information item s assigned an access right of high level.When there are access rights of three levels, i.e., “low”, “medium”, and“high”, the highest level, “high”, is assigned to the vital data.

“Region ID” indicates the region where the source of information lives.“Encryption type” indicates the encryption method used to encrypt thesensing information. Not only public key encryption or secret keyencryption but also partial encryption, total encryption, or acombination of a plurality of kinds of encryption may be employed.“Encryption type” means such type of encryption. In FIG. 5, a typeindicated by a numerical value.

Since vital data is a kind of “information to be kept secret”, it isencrypted and stored. Personal information of each individual, includingthe name and address of the source of information who has provided vitaldata, is also “information to be kept secret”. Hence, the personalinformation is also encrypted and stored in the structured accessibleinformation storing unit 3. The personal information is separated fromrecording information including vital data and additional informationshown in FIG. 5 and separately stored as independent information. Hence,the recording information shown in FIG. 5 is anonymized information,i.e., anonymous information. As shown in FIG. 5, each vital data storedin the structured accessible information storing unit 3 is storedseparately from personal information (anonymized). Hence, the vital datais anonymous information.

FIG. 6 is a view for explaining an example of storage of personalinformation in the structured accessible information storing unit 3.Each personal information has an ID (personal ID) used to identify it.The personal IDs are indicated by “P1”, “P2”, . . . in FIG. 6. FIG. 6shows only the personal IDs as personal information for the sake ofsimplicity. In fact, each personal information also includes data itemssuch as the name and address (the data items are not illustrated in FIG.6).

Only a temporary ID assigned to each recording information as shown inFIG. 5 makes personal information shown in FIG. 6 correspond to(associate with) vital data and other additional information shown inFIG. 5. A temporary ID is made to correspond to a personal ID (the ID(identifier) of personal information) by the information associatingunit 22. Temporary IDs are given to pieces of recording information atrandom. Only the information associating unit 22 knows thecorrespondence between the temporary IDs and the personal IDs. That is,the information which indicates correspondence between the temporary IDsand the personal IDs is recorded in the information associating unit 22so that only the information associating unit 22 can read out theinformation.

Of the pieces of recording information shown in FIG. 5, the informationtype, access right, region ID, sex, age, and acquisition date are notencrypted. These pieces of information can be referred to even withoutany special access right (even when, for example, an accessible user hasan access right of lowest level).

The information anonymizing system shown in FIG. 1 also has thetransceiver unit 4, an authentication unit 5, and an informationanonymizing unit 7.

The transceiver unit 4 receives a recording request for sensinginformation transmitted from an information source side or an accessrequest from an accessible user who wants to use sensing informationrecorded in the structured accessible information storing unit 3. Thetransceiver unit 4 also transmits information requested by an accessibleuser to that accessible user at the request source.

The authentication unit 5 authenticates authentication information whichis transmitted from an accessible user side and received by thetransceiver unit 4. The anonymizing unit 7 processes portions to beanonymized of the pieces of information stored in the structuredaccessible information storing unit 3 in accordance with the accessright of the accessible user authenticated by the authentication unit 5.

The anonymous information structuring unit 23 in the informationprocessing unit 2 separates “information to be kept secret” fromrecording information including information provided (sent) from aninformation source side.

FIG. 7 is a sequence chart for explaining the processing operation ofthe information anonymizing system until recording information includinginformation (e.g., vital data) obtained by the sensing unit 1 isanonymized and stored in the structured accessible information storingunit 3.

An example will be described, in which the sensing unit 1 constituted bythe terminal apparatus shown in FIG. 3 acquires vital data and sends thevital data as shown in FIG. 4 to the transceiver unit 4 through thecommunication unit 15. In this case, before transmission of vital data,the sensing unit 1 transmits an authentication request includingauthentication information first. The authentication request istransmitted to the authentication unit 5 through the transceiver unit 4(step S1). The authentication information may be, e.g., a fingerprint ora photograph of face of the source of information, vital data such as aniris serving as authentication information, or authentication data(e.g., an authentication number or password) on an IC card incorporatedin the terminal apparatus corresponding to the sensing unit 1 shown inFIG. 3.

On the basis of the authentication information included in theauthentication request, the authentication unit 5 executes personalauthentication. If the authentication request is authentic, theauthentication unit 5 transfers an authenticated ID (or pass ID) (thevalue of the authenticated ID is “x1”) to the information associatingunit 22. Simultaneously, the authentication unit 5 returns anauthenticated ID having the same value as that of the authenticated IDto the sensing unit 1 (steps S3 and S4). If the authentication requestis inauthentic, the authentication unit 5 gives no authenticated ID, andthe processing is interrupted.

In parallel to the authentication request, a recording request andanonymizing request to record the vital data from the sensing unit 1 inthe information anonymizing system through the transceiver unit 4 aresent to the information associating unit 22 through the transceiver unit4 (step S2). The information associating unit 22 receives thedetermination result from the authentication unit 5. If thedetermination result is “authentic”, the information associating unit 22holds the authenticated ID sent from the authentication unit 5 and waitsfor vital data sent from the sensing unit 1. If the authenticationresult is “inauthentic”, the information associating unit 22 discardsthe recording request and anonymizing request without waiting for vitaldata from the sensing unit 1, and the processing is interrupted.

Upon receiving the authentication result that indicates “authentic”, thesensing unit 1 sends the received authenticated ID and vital data to thetransceiver unit 4 again through the communication unit 15 (step S5).The sensing unit 1 may also transmit, together with the vital data,personal information such as a personal ID to be used to identify thesource of the vital data. The personal information is registered inadvance in, e.g., the terminal (e.g., the PDA shown in FIG. 3)corresponding to the sensing unit 1.

Assume that vital data added with personal information is transmittedfrom the sensing unit 1. For example, in the information anonymizingsystem, the personal information of the source of information isregistered in the structured accessible information storing unit 3 inadvance. Vital data added with a personal ID is sent from the sensingunit 1. For example, the information associating unit 22 obtains, fromthe personal ID, other pieces of personal information such as the namecorresponding to the personal ID. The pieces of personal information aremade to correspond to the vital data transmitted from the sensing unit1.

The transceiver unit 4 sends the personal. information, vital data, andauthenticated ID to the information associating unit 22. The informationassociating unit 22 determines whether the held authenticated ID (“x1”)coincides with the received authenticated ID.

When the authenticated IDs coincide with each other, a temporary IDcorresponding to the personal ID included in the personal information isgenerated at random. Data representing the correspondence between thegenerated temporary ID and the personal ID is stored in a table (stepS6). If no personal ID is present, an ID that identifies the personalinformation may be generated and used as the personal ID. The generatedtemporary ID, vital data, personal information, recording request, andanonymizing request are sent to the adding unit 21 (step S7).

The personal information is defined in advance as “information to bekept secret”. The access right for it has the highest level (preferablya level higher than the access right for vital data).

The adding unit 21 generates level information that defines the level ofthe access right that limits accessible users who can access the vitaldata and additional information (by referring to information included inthe recording request or the personal information of the source of thevital data, as needed) in correspondence with the temporary ID. Theadding unit 21 outputs recording information including the additionalinformation, vital data, and personal information.

The temporary ID, recording information, recording request, andanonymizing request are sent to the anonymous information structuringunit 23 to anonymize the recording information (step S8).

The anonymous information structuring unit 23 separates the “informationto be kept secret” from the recording information. The “information tobe kept secret” means personal information and vital data. Of therecording information, pieces of information except the vital data andpersonal information are “information that need not be kept secret”.

Of the pieces of “information to be kept secret” included in therecording information, information (i.e., personal information) to beintegrated with the personal ID is separated from the recordinginformation. Of the pieces of “information to be kept secret”,information (i.e., vital data) other than the personal information isencrypted and sent to the structured accessible information storing unit3 together with the temporary ID (step S9). At this time, the pieces of“information that need not be kept secret” are also sent to thestructured accessible information storing unit 3.

The anonymous information structuring unit 23 sends the personalinformation separated from the recording information to the informationassociating unit 22 together with the temporary ID such that thepersonal information is integrated with the personal ID (step S10). Theinformation associating unit 22 obtains the personal ID corresponding tothe temporary ID from the table that stores the information item whichrepresents the correspondence, integrates the personal information withthe personal ID, encrypts the personal information, and sends it to thestructured accessible information storing unit 3 (step S11).

The structured accessible information storing unit 3 stores theencrypted personal information (including the personal ID) sent from theinformation associating unit 22, as shown in FIG. 6. The structuredaccessible information storing unit 3 stores the temporary ID sent fromthe anonymous information structuring unit 23, and anonymous informationincluding the encrypted vital data and the pieces of “information thatneed not be kept secret” in the format shown in FIG. 5 (step S12).Actually, since the vital data and personal information are encrypted,the contents of these pieces of information cannot easily be read. Inaddition, the processing for encrypting and storing the personalinformation in steps S10 and S11 need not always be executed if thepersonal information has already been stored in the structuredaccessible information storing unit 3. More specifically, in step S9,the personal information is separated from the recording information,the vital data is encrypted, and anonymous information including theencrypted vital data and other pieces of “information that need not bekept secret” and the temporary ID are stored in the structuredaccessible information storing unit 3. In this case, steps S10 to S12may be omitted.

When the anonymous information is recorded, the structured accessibleinformation storing unit 3 returns a reply representing the end ofrecording to the sensing unit 1 through the associating unit 22 (stepS13).

With the above processing, the sensing information that is sent togetherwith corresponding personal information is separated from the personalinformation and recorded in the structured accessible informationstoring unit 3.

In the above example, the vital data itself includes no information thatspecifies the individual. However, when the sensing unit 1 comprises animaging unit 16 and the communication unit 15, as shown in FIG. 8, animage acquired by the imaging unit 16 can include personal informationsuch as the face of the person, which can identify the individual. Whenthe information sensed by the sensing unit 1 includes “information to bekept secret”, which is related to the privacy of an individual, apersonal information extracting unit 24 extracts the “information to bekept secret”.

In paragraphs [0155] and [0156] of Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI PublicationNo. 2000-311251, a method of extracting an object from an image usingfractal is described. For example, two extracting methods as shown inFIGS. 9 and 10 are used. FIGS. 9 and 10 show examples wherein thecontour of buildings is extracted from the same image. An image A1 inFIG. 9 and an image B1 in FIG. 10 have the same initial contour (thickline) in the same image. An image A2 in FIG. 9 indicates the contour ofbuildings, which is extracted from the initial contour in the image A1by using a fractal method. An image B2 in FIG. 10 indicates the contourof buildings, which is extracted from the initial contour in the imageB1 by using a snake method.

FIG. 10 shows a method called snake, which extracts the contour (thewhite curved line that surrounds the buildings in FIG. 10) of an objectwith a minimum energy. In this case, since the energy is minimum, thecontour is rounded, as indicated in the image B2. It is thereforedifficult to accurately extract the contour of the sharp portions of thebuildings.

To the contrary, the fractal method shown in FIG. 9 can extract even thecontour of sharp portions by increasing the fractal value (the degree ofrepetition of similar shapes). Hence, even the contour of the sharpportions of the buildings can be accurately extracted, as indicated inthe image A2, unlike the snake method.

Only a portion (“information to be kept secret”) associated with theprivacy of an individual can be extracted from, e.g., the image shown inFIG. 11 by using the above extracting method.

FIG. 12 shows the image information of a person, which is obtained aspersonal information extracted by the personal information extractingunit 24 from the image shown in FIG. 11. FIG. 13 shows anonymousinformation obtained by deleting or mosaicing the personal informationin the image shown in FIG. 11 to make the personal information (theimage of the person shown in FIG. 12) secret.

FIG. 14 is a sequence chart for explaining another processing operationof the information anonymizing system. FIG. 14 shows the processingoperation after the personal information extracting unit 24 extracts“information to be kept secret” (personal information) from information(image information) acquired by the sensing unit 1 until the informationacquired by the sensing unit 1 is anonymized and stored in thestructured accessible information storing unit 3. The personalinformation in the image information is the image of an individual.Hence, in this case, the personal information is included in advance inthe image acquired by the sensing unit 1 as sensing information. Thiscase is the same as the case shown in FIG. 7 wherein part of vital dataacquired by the sensing unit 1 as sensing information is personalinformation. Processing in steps S1 to S8 in FIG. 14 is the same as inFIG. 7, and a description thereof will be omitted. In step S6 in FIG.14, a personal ID is generated and stored in correspondence with atemporary ID.

Processing from step S8 in FIG. 14 will be described. More specifically,in step S8, the temporary ID, recording information including additionalinformation and image information including personal information and thelike, an recording request, and an anonymizing request are sent to theanonymous information structuring unit 23. The recording information andtemporary ID are sent to the personal information extracting unit 24together with a request to extract the personal information from therecording information (step S9 a).

The personal information extracting unit 24 extracts, from the imageinformation in the recording information, the image portion of theperson, i.e., personal information as “information to be kept secret” byusing the fractal method (step S9 b). The extracted personal information(image portion of the person) and the temporary ID are sent to theinformation associating unit 22 to be integrated with the personal ID bythe anonymous information structuring unit 23 (steps S9 c and S10).

On the other hand, the personal information extracting unit 24 convertsthe image information in the recording information into anonymousinformation. More specifically, the personal information extracting unit24 executes anonymizing processing for the image information by deletingor mosaicing a portion corresponding to the personal informationextracted from the image information. For example, the personalinformation extracting unit 24 deletes a portion corresponding to thepersonal information extracted from the image information by overwritingthe personal information portion with arbitrary symbols. Anonymousinformation obtained by this anonymizing processing is transferred tothe structured accessible information storing unit 3 together with thetemporary ID (step S9 d). The anonymous information may be encrypted.The adding unit 21 in the information processing unit 2 adds, asadditional information, level information that defines the level of theaccess right that limits accessible users to the personal informationextracted from the image information.

The information associating unit 22 integrates the personal informationwith the personal ID on the basis of the correspondence betweentemporary ID and personal ID, which is stored in advance in the table.The information associating unit 22 then encrypts the personalinformation and sends it to the structured accessible informationstoring unit 3 (step S11).

The structured accessible information storing unit 3 stores theencrypted personal information sent from the information associatingunit 22 and the anonymous information (the anonymous information may beencrypted) and the temporary ID which are sent from the anonymousinformation structuring unit 23 in, e.g., the formats shown in FIGS. 5and 6 (step S12). After that, the structured accessible informationstoring unit 3 returns a reply representing the end of recording to thesensing unit 1 (step S13).

The processing operation of the information anonymizing system when anaccess request is received from an accessible user will be describednext with reference to FIG. 15.

Assume that an accessible user wants to know how the degree ofconcentration during PC work changes in accordance with the work time inone week. In this case, the degree of concentration can be known fromthe GSR value. Hence, e.g., the following search request text isdescribed in the XML (extensible Markup Language) format and sent.

{category: males & females, item 1: PC work time/week, item 2: degree ofconcentration}

For the search request text, the terminal side of the access user or,e.g., an information management unit 6 of the information anonymizingsystem that has received the search request text may convert the name of“item” representing the type of information to be searched in the searchrequest text to a name representing the type of information actuallystored in the structured accessible information storing unit 3 such thatthe search request text itself can be adapted to the informationanonymizing system. For example, the search request text is converted to

{category: males & females, item 1: PC work time/week, item 2: GSR}

Before the terminal of the accessible user issues an access requestincluding the search request text, an authentication request includingauthentication information is sent to the authentication unit 5 throughthe transceiver unit 4 (step S21). After that, the access request istransmitted (step S22). The authentication unit 5 confirms whether theaccess of the accessible user is permitted. Permission of use ofinformation in the system is given by an authentication departmentseparately provided. An accessible user who is permitted in advance touse the information in the system is authenticated using a given publickey.

If the public key is not correct, the authentication unit 5 gives noauthenticated ID. Hence, the accessible user cannot use the informationanymore.

When the accessible user is successfully authenticated by theauthentication unit 5, an authenticated ID including level informationthat defines the level of the access right defined for the accessibleuser is transferred to the transceiver unit 4 (step S23). Alternatively,the authenticated ID is temporarily transmitted to the terminal of theaccessible user through the transceiver unit 4. The authenticated IDtransmitted from the terminal of the accessible user may be received(step S24).

The transceiver unit 4 sends the access request sent from the accessibleuser and the authenticated ID returned from the authentication unit 5(or transmitted from the terminal of the accessible user) altogether tothe information anonymizing unit 7 (step S25).

On the basis of the received access request, the information anonymizingunit 7 sends a read request to the structured accessible informationstoring unit 3 to read out the requested information (e.g., informationcorresponding to the search request text included in the access request)(step S26). The structured accessible information storing unit 3separately stores the anonymous information and personal information, asshown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

Information to be searched by the search request text having adesignated “category”, like the above search request text, is irrelevantto personal information. For this reason, on the basis of the level ofthe access right of the accessible user, information with level that canbe made open to the accessible user is provided to him/her.

The category is “males & females”. All the pieces of information shownin FIG. 5 belong to this category. Hence, all the pieces of information(including pieces of encrypted vital data that are separately recorded)shown in FIG. 5 are read out and sent to the anonymizing unit 7 (stepS27).

When the readout information includes information to be anonymized inaccordance with the level of the access right included in theauthenticated ID, the anonymizing unit 7 anonymizes the information.When the readout information includes information that should not bemade open to the accessible user, the anonymizing unit 7 deletes theinformation (step S28). For example, each information shown in FIG. 5has no information to be kept secret because personal information hasalready been separated. However, the temporary ID used to associate thepersonal information still remains. Hence, in this example, thetemporary ID is deleted from each readout anonymous information.

The access right is defined for each accessible user in advance. Theaccess right is information that specifies the level of usableinformation for each accessible user. In the above example, anaccessible user who can receive vital data from the search request textmust have in advance a permission of access to at least vital data. Evenwhen the accessible user is permitted to access vital data, he/shecannot know the person to whom the vital data belongs if he/she is notpermitted to access personal information. When the physician in chargeof the source of the vital data is the accessible user, the access rightmay be defined such that the accessible user can access both the vitaldata and personal information of the source of the vital data.

In addition, in recording “information to be kept secret” such as vitaldata, the access right (“low”, “medium”, and “high”) defined for the“information to be kept secret” to be recorded may be used as the accessright of the accessible user. For example, when the access right tovital data is “medium”, the access right of an accessible user who canaccess vital data may have to be “medium” or one of “medium” and “high”.When the access right to personal information is “high”, the accessright of an accessible user who can access personal information may haveto be “high”.

The information (anonymous information) that has undergone necessaryprocessing by the information anonymizing unit 7 is transmitted to theterminal of the accessible user (step S29).

Upon receiving the anonymous information transmitted from theinformation anonymizing system, the terminal of the accessible userarranges the data in the anonymous information, as shown in, e.g., FIG.16, so that a report including the PC work time per week, the ratio ofdoers who are doing that action, the average degree of concentration ofall persons, and the average degree of concentrate of only males can beobtained.

The accessible user pays the compensation for information use to thecharging management unit (step S30). The authentication department thatpermits information use also serves as the charging management unit.Payback corresponding to the information providing amount may be donefor each source of information. Alternatively, a banking agency that hasa contract with the source of information may serve as the chargingmanagement unit such that a remittance can be made to the bankingagency.

Assume that an access request to information such as the above-describedimage information is issued. Image information is anonymized in advanceand recorded. If the level of the access right given to the accessibleuser is too low to access the personal information in the imageinformation, only anonymous information stored in the structuredaccessible information storing unit 3 is provided. If the level of theaccess right given to the accessible user permits access to personalinformation in the image information, anonymous information is read outfrom the structured accessible information storing unit 3.Simultaneously, a personal ID corresponding to the (temporary ID of)anonymous information is obtained from the table stored in theinformation associating unit 22. Then, personal informationcorresponding to the personal ID is read out from the structuredaccessible information storing unit 3. For example, the informationanonymizing unit 7 synthesizes the readout personal information with theanonymous information to generate the original image information. Theoriginal image including the synthesized personal information istransmitted to the accessible user at the information request sourcethrough the transceiver unit 4. In this way, the anonymizing unit 7 alsoexecutes processing for returning the processed portion in the anonymousinformation, i.e., the portion corresponding to the personal informationto the original state.

In the above embodiment, the sensing unit 1 is independently arranged asa terminal apparatus. The sensing unit 1 transmits/receives data to/fromthe information anonymizing system incorporated in a home server or thelike via wireless communication. The present invention is not limited tothis arrangement. As the small device technology is developed, a largememory capacity can be ensured as in a current home server. A portablesensing unit 1 that is incorporated in the information anonymizingsystem, as shown in FIG. 17, may be available.

The same reference numerals as in FIG. 1 denote the same parts in FIG.17. FIG. 17 is different from FIG. 1 only in that the sensing unit 1 isincorporated in the information anonymizing system.

The above embodiment assumes that medical facilities are accessibleusers, and individuals are sources of information. However, the presentinvention is not limited to this. For example, individuals may beaccessible users, and the police and the like may be sources ofinformation.

For example, a personal user who wants to know the current state ofRoppongi requests images sensed by a camera installed on a street ofRoppongi. The user issues an access request including a search requesttext

{category: not designated, item 1: Roppongi, item 2: real time}The National Police Agency that controls cameras installed in Roppongiprovides, e.g., anonymized image information (anonymous information) asshown in FIG. 18, i.e., information obtained by removing personalinformation (e.g., the image information of face portions) from a sensedimage (by using the personal information extracting unit 24).

As described above, according to the above embodiment, first informationincluding anonymous information (such as vital data including pulse andbody temperature related to that person) and personal information (e.g.,a personal ID) is acquired. The personal information is separated fromthe first information to obtain anonymous information (that is not addedor associated with the personal information). Each of the anonymousinformation and personal information is assigned level that defines thelevel of the access right that limits accessible users. The anonymousinformation and personal information are separately stored in thestructured accessible information storing unit 3 as independentinformation. Only a temporary ID makes the two pieces of informationcorrespond to each other. The information item that represents thecorrespondence between the temporary ID and the personal ID thatidentifies the personal information is stored in the associating unit22.

When an access request to access the first information is received, andthe level of the access right defined in advance for the user who hassent the access request allows access to the anonymous information ofthe first information, the anonymous information is provided to the userat the request source. When the level of the access right also allowsaccess to the personal information, the anonymous information isprovided to the user at the request source together with the personalinformation.

When second information including personal information is acquired, thepersonal information is separated from the second information togenerate anonymous information (that doesn't include personalinformation). Each of the anonymous information and personal informationis assigned the level of the access right that limits accessible users.The anonymous information and personal information are separately storedin the structured accessible information storing unit 3 as independentinformation. Only a temporary ID makes the two pieces of informationcorrespond to each other. The information item that represents thecorrespondence between the temporary ID and the personal ID thatidentifies the personal information is stored in the associating unit22.

When an access request to access the second information is received, andthe level of the access right defined in advance for the user who hassent the access request inhibits access to the personal information, theanonymous information of the second information corresponding to theaccess request is read out and provided. When the level of the accessright allows access to the personal information, the original secondinformation is generated from the personal information and anonymousinformation corresponding to the second information. The generatedoriginal second information is provided to the user at the requestsource.

In the above way, when information added with personal information orinformation including personal information is acquired, the personalinformation added to or included in the information is separated fromthe acquired information to generate anonymous information. Thegenerated anonymous information and personal information are separatelystored as individual information. The anonymous information and personalinformation are separated in advance and stored. For this reason, whenthe anonymous information (“information that need not be kept secret”)is provided to another user, it is impossible to search for the personalinformation (“information to be kept secret”) on the basis of theprovided information. Hence, even information including vital data andpersonal information or information (e.g., image information) includingpersonal information can be used by a third party without being accessedby him/her.

The information anonymizing system according to this embodimentfacilitates use of information while protecting the privacy ofindividuals and can therefor greatly contribute to research anddevelopment in medical facilities and the like. Since an access right isdefined in advance for “information to be kept secret” such as personalinformation, any user who has an access right of level that allowsaccess to the information can refer to even the “information to be keptsecret” such as personal information.

Hence, an information sharing environment can be realized in which whileprotecting important information such as personal information from beingopen to a third party without permission, anonymized information can beactively used such that data mining can easily and effectively be done.

Second Embodiment

The mechanism of an information use service using the informationanonymizing system 100 described in the first embodiment will bedescribed next as the second embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a view for explaining the mechanism of the information useservice using the information anonymizing system 100. Referring to FIG.19, the information anonymizing system 100 according to the firstembodiment acquires information such as information including vital dataand personal information or image information including personalinformation through a sensing unit 1 attached to a user as a source ofinformation. When “information to be kept secret” such as personalinformation is included in the acquired information, the “information tobe kept secret” (e.g., personal information that can specify anindividual) is separated from the acquired information, and theanonymous information and personal information are separately stored, asdescribed in the first embodiment. Only a temporary ID that is valid inthe information anonymizing system serves as a link key for the twopieces of information. (The two pieces of information the anonymous areinformation and personal information.)

On the other hand, an access request including a search request texttransmitted from the terminal of an accessible user such as a doctor isreceived by a server apparatus 101 serving as a proxy agent. The serverapparatus 101 transfers the access request to the informationanonymizing system 100. On the basis of obtained anonymous information,the server apparatus 101 creates a report suitable for the searchrequest text as shown in, e.g., FIG. 15.

The server apparatus 101 pays, to the source of information, informationfees corresponding to the information provided by the source ofinformation. The server apparatus 101 collects, from the accessibleuser, information fees for use of the information.

According to the information providing service system shown in FIG. 19,anonymous information obtained by separating personal information inadvance from information added with or including the personalinformation is provided. Hence, even information including “informationto be kept secret” such as personal information provided from anindividual can smoothly and effectively be used by a third party whilereliably holding the “information to be kept secret” in confidence.

The method of the present invention described in the embodiments of theinvention can be stored in a recording medium such as a magnetic disk(e.g., a floppy disk or hard disk), optical disk (e.g., a CD-ROM orDVD), or semiconductor memory and distributed as a program to beexecuted by a computer.

Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to thoseskilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects isnot limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shownand described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be madewithout departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventiveconcept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

1.-17. (canceled)
 18. An information anonymizing system, comprising: afirst terminal corresponding to a first user; a second terminalcorresponding to a second user; a first receiving unit configured toreceive, from the first terminal, an authentication request includingauthentication information of the first user; an authentication unitconfigured to execute personal authentication by using theauthentication information, to obtain, if the authentication informationis authentic, a first pass ID and a second pass ID, wherein a value ofthe first pass ID is equal to a value of the second pass ID; a transferunit configured to transfer one of the first pass ID or the second passID as a transferred pass ID to the first terminal, and store the otherof the first pass ID or the second pass ID that is not transferred as astored pass ID; a second receiving unit configured to receive thetransferred pass ID and an information item including an image of aperson; a first generation unit configured to generate a temporary IDfor identifying the information item, when the transferred pass ID isequal to the stored pass ID; an extracting unit configured to extract acontour of a person's face from the information item, to detect an imageof a person's face as a personal information item; a second generatingunit configured to generate an anonymous information item, which is theinformation item without the image of the person's face, by separatingthe detected personal information item from the information item; afirst storing unit configured to store a pair including the temporary IDand a personal ID corresponding to the personal information item; anencrypting unit configured to encrypt the personal information item; asecond storing unit configured to store the encrypted personalinformation item and the anonymous information item to which thetemporary ID and one of a plurality of levels corresponding to thepersonal information item are added, the plurality of levels including(a) a first access level which is assigned to a first group of users,the first group of users including users who can access only theanonymous information item out of the anonymous information item and thepersonal information item, and (b) a second access level which isassigned to a second group of users, the second group of users includingusers who can access both of the anonymous information item and thepersonal information item; a third receiving unit configured to receivea request message for accessing the information item, the requestmessage being transmitted from the second terminal; a first transmittingunit configured to transmit only the anonymous information item out ofthe anonymous information item and the personal information item to thesecond terminal in response to the request message, when an access levelpredetermined to the second user of the second terminal is equal to thefirst access level; a synthesizing unit configured to synthesize thepersonal information item with the anonymous information item to obtaina regenerated information item including the image of the person's face;and a second transmitting unit configured to transmit the regeneratedinformation item in response to the request message, when the accesslevel of the second user is equal to the second access level.
 19. Thesystem according to claim 18, wherein the synthesizing unit includes: afirst acquiring unit configured to acquire the pair, based on thetemporary ID added to the anonymous information item, to obtain thepersonal ID of the pair; and a second acquiring unit configured toacquire, from the second storing unit, the personal information itemwhich corresponds to the personal ID of the pair and is to besynthesized with the anonymous information item.
 20. The systemaccording to claim 18, wherein the second generating unit generates theanonymous information item by overwriting an area corresponding to thepersonal information item with arbitrary symbols.